it has a strange name but it's great fun

The problem came on Sunday when we all started to go stir crazy. 1 year old children do not react well to being locked indoors. Our plans to go all ‘national trust’ on his ass fell through due to the bad weather. I was going to nip down to the Isle of Wight and drive around some of the sights. Wear him out and come back late in the evening but it was so miserable we stayed in.

Sunday morning I set off to collect my brother who was staying with me for a couple of nights. He introduced me to a very beautiful girl he met travelling. They both stayed and it was very pleasing to see my brother with his metaphorical stepladder, punching way above his weight.

We managed a trip out to a nursery that afternoon. We had to get my son exercised and I picked up some fish food for his goldfish. It was probably the only interesting thing to happen to us all and my poor brother and his girlfriend were sarcastically pleased I took them on a day out to a garden centre. It is a Garden Centre of a difference and I will do them justice with a blog entry at a later date as they have live chickens and amazing fish displays (A weird combination I know).

I’ll sign this off here because i’ve written too much about nothing already.

Peace ,\/,,

BD

Some very useful reviews help show the true value in the product:

“The title is a little misleading, they are actualy designed to let you plug _the_ UK into a two pin socket.

After one of my 62 million neighbours left the lights on while on holiday and ran up a huge bill, we decided to use this and run an extension lead across the channel to see if it’s cheaper. The man from EDF reckoned we could save ‘up to £200′ per year!

At that rate, this will pay for itself in just 25 million years!”

read yourself here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Universal-Adaptor-into-Black-GrandGadgets
Buff Daddy

Godstone Farm

There are plenty of animals to watch and feed as well as a petting zoo for rabbits, ducklings and chicks. 

Pigs, Llamas, Emu, Donkeys, Horses, Goats, Turkeys, Mice, Ducks, Cow are all I can recall from the top of my head. Nothing too exotic, and all things you will find in the chiller isle of your local Morrisons really but with a bit more animation about them. Apart from the ‘play’ dead Llama we spotted on the way in.

There’s also Lambs and piglets that have just been berthed in the sheds to really get your appitite going. When you are in the Sheds, check out the practice milking stations with cut out animals and rubber teats hanging down.

Milking Station at Godstone Farm. Just like the real thing

The tractor ride looked more queue than ride. I watched people queue for 10 minutes and ride 10 meters 1 way and then back again. It did make us laugh.

The size of the farm and the amount of animals is what strikes you. I have been 3 times before and found a new section. We still haven’t explored the adventure playground.

For heath reasons they insist you wash your hands every 3 minutes due to the risk of e-coli and that children do not take dummys and for whatever reason elephants? I think that may be an in-joke.

The only thing that sticks out on the entire day was the cost. £2 for my son. This will go up to £5.90 when he is 2. and £5 per adult. £15 total? bit of a sting. But with food available and so much to do you can easily spend the best part of the day here.

BuffDaddy.

This week took us to Claremont Landscape Gardens near Esher, where we met up with my wife’s parents, sister and child. Me and my wife are National Trust members, have been for a few years now. But in the last few months our memberships have really been getting a workout. It’s a great chance for the kid to stretch his legs and really get a workout. We just slipped straight in with our membership cards. No parking or entry fees for members.

They have a playground with a large wooden castle and a house, this was our first stop in an attempt to get a quick win trying to wear the kid out. Loads of kids were making use of the playground. It’s very beautiful and the castle was very impressive.

Next was a stop to feed the ducks. What an amazing collection of colourful ducks they were. We had a great time pointing out strange colours and patterns.

There’s a large and unusual grass amphitheatre overlooking a small lake. We were regretting not coming over when it snowed as the stepped slopes would have been great sledging. Not sure if they would have allowed it though as you’d struggle to not get a bath in the lake.

Final stop for our group was the victorian toys and dressing up. My son enjoyed playing with the wooden horse and a very modern mamas and papas pram that was confiscated from us shortly afterwards by an older woman that gave us a look that said, “You should know this was our toy and not one of the official victorian toys”. We enjoyed ripping into my wife for a bit after that.

I then found the ball and cup game. I couldn’t understand how anyone could be amused by anything so low-fi. After 20 minutes of playing with it I realised it might have potential. Especially when I started making my own rules to the game and nearly beat my record.

Here’s a couple of snaps from the day. I didn’t think of taking any pictures of the amphitheatre, the playground or the colourful ducks. Bit of a waste but I wasn’t planning on writing this up. I’ll make a point of taking some snaps of the good stuff next time. In the meantime, here’s some very approachable doves.

The wonderful Dropbox

What a waste of money this turned out to be. It cost somewhere around £20 for the month. They increased the size instantly. No sooner did the credit card page clear than a notice appeared in dropbox and notified me of the increase in size. I moved all the useful data I could to the dropbox only to watch it get stuck instantly.

It turns out they have a 10GB daily limit. Even for when you first create the increase. Now, this is fine if I want to slowly increase but I really needed to get data online fast. I ended up using my readyNAS FTP site but I was really hoping dropbox would come through after I parted with my cash money.

Oh well. I have since decreased my allowance to the free 5GB and will ontinue to use the service. But they are giving the milk away for free and the cow is no race-hoarse. Pardon the ridiculously maimed metaphor.

In conclusion. Thanks Dropbox, thanks for the wonderful free service that I use daily on all my smart devices, laptops and PC’s. Why do you make it difficulty for me to want to give you money?

Buff-Daddy.

Sphere poster

Release date

27th March 1998

Review

So my tastes in films is really starting to show here. Sci-fi and horror are my staple. and as usual the usual sites are marking my film tastes down with no real reasoning. The explanation of Rotten Tomatoes saying “Sphere features an A-level cast working with B-grade material” were obviously waiting for the snogging cowboys or something because they were in the wrong cinema. I personally thought that by the time the plot twists played out the film was flawless.

From the get go, this film has a great feel to it. The throw away comments that help establish scale and characters are a plenty as you would expect when you have a film that deals with situations and physics outside our normally daily experience. This is something that does not have to be done as obviously in very geeky Sci-fi shows because its fan base is already familiar with the universe.

Sphere is geared toward a larger audience, this is made obvious by the great cast. Hoffman, Jackson & Stone. As such,

we require these conversations in the beginning to establish the universe. Once past these you are welcomed into a brilliant story that twists and turns regularly. The crash site they investigate has an eerie presence that creates tonnes of suspense.

Sphere is the kind of film that you can watch multiple times and the details always seem to add up. CI cannot see any issues with the mythology that contradicts itself from this second watch through. Although the first watch was when it came out back in the 90’s.

I recommend you watch this film. If you enjoyed Event Horizon then you owe it to yourself to get this watched. Sphere is available on Sky Movies right now.

My rating

Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ 

Cast

 Dustin Hoffman – Dr. Norman Goodman

 Sharon Stone – Dr. Elizabeth ‘Beth’ Halperin

 Samuel L. Jackson – Dr. Harry Adams

 Peter Coyote – Captain Harold C. Barnes

 Liev Schreiber – Dr. Ted Fielding

 Queen Latifah – Alice ‘Teeny’ Fletcher

 Marga Gómez – Jane Edmunds

IMDB description

“A spaceship is discovered under three hundred years’ worth of coral growth at the bottom of the ocean.”

IMDB Rating

Rating: ★★★★★¾☆☆☆☆ 

Rotten tomato Rating

Rating: ½☆☆☆☆ 

Rotten tomato Writeup

“Sphere features an A-level cast working with B-grade material, with a story seen previously in superior science-fiction films.”

Don’t just listen to these guys. use the review buttons on the site to make your opinion heard. If you liked the article ‘Sphere Review’ Please also use the Facebook like buttons and tell your friends. I always look forward to comments.

I received a notification in the software update section on my iPhone 4 recently. It might be because I opted to download the update but not install it via iTunes. My iPad has not been plugged in for a few days and has not asked if I want to update so I suspect that is how the iPhone knows I need to update. It would be cool if it just new by checking online. So many features of the iPhone do not require PC anymore so if it hasn’t already i suspect it will very soon.

Running the iOS 5.0.1 untethered update

Hello, what’s this? I received a notification in settings recently.

…On further investigation (Click General)…

Hmmm, Click, Software Update (click)…

I could see it was for the latest iOS 5.0.1 untethered update

Apple’s iOS 5.0.1 update makes iPhone 4S battery even worse?

I do not run an iPhone 4S so decided to update seeing as it wouldn’t mess with my battery.

I was, on the other hand, slightly shy of 50% battery life that the iOS 5.0.1 untethered update required.

The evidence is hard to dismiss

Power cable… Click!

Press the Install Now button

(Screenshot lost)

You will be asked to Agree the license agreement on the next screen. Click Agree.

From here on it will read “Verifying update…” until it reboots and runs the update.

Log in and check the update status

Click settings

Click General

Click About

The version is listed on this screen. iOS 5.0.1 untethered update complete!

Release date

3rd December 2010

Review

When the movie started, it reminded me of some of the fantastic epic films coming out of the far east at the moment from the likes of crouching tiger to hero. But very quickly the dynamic changes, the protagonist leaves for the old west and there’s some great comical moments that reminded me of Kung-Fu hustle. The mostly English speaking film has American actors portraying most of the roles except for the protagonist and one of the anti heroes.

Rotten tomato said The Warrior’s Way will either be delightful or unbearable, depending on your tolerance for surreal, shamelessly over the top collisions of eastern and western clichés. Then awarded it 30%. Well, I have to say that my tolerance must be incredibly high because outside of the clichés that are underplayed in this movie by most summer blockbuster standards the story and carefully orchestrated fight scenes and filmed so beautifully that you cannot take your eyes from the screen.

Don’t get me wrong, the story is predictable. No twisty turny stuff that I love so much. But the characters are enjoyable and the feel of the movie works so well that it holds your attention so perfectly.

Watch this film if you enjoy Kung-Fu films, Westerns or you are just a fan of well made films. You will not be disappointed. Catch this in HD on Sky Anytime. For a full listing of films currently on demand on Sky Anytime see my article: Sky Movies listings for November

My rating

Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 

Cast

 Dong-gun Jang – Yang

 Kate Bosworth – Lynne

 Geoffrey Rush – Ronald

 Danny Huston – Colonel

 Tony Cox – Eight-Ball

IMDB description

A warrior-assassin is forced to hide in a small town in the American Badlands after refusing a mission.

IMDB Rating

Rating: ★★★★★★¼☆☆☆ 

Rotten Tomato Rating

Rating: ★½☆☆☆ 

Rotten Tomato Writeup

Perfectly, thoroughly divisive, The Warrior’s Way will either be delightful or unbearable, depending on your tolerance for surreal, shamelessly over the top collisions of eastern and western clichés.

Please rate this movie yourself:

Apple’s iOS 5.0.1 update makes iPhone 4S battery even worse?

iOS 5.0.1 update makes iPhone 4S battery even worse

Has Apple’s iOS 5.0.1 update worsened the iPhone 4S battery bug? That’s the claim of some users online, but is there any truth to the assertions?

Apple’s newly released iOS 5.0.1 update – the one that was meant to fix the battery draining bugs present in iOS 5 – has reportedly made matters worse, according to online user forums.

Apple’s iOS 5 was quite an update and introduced a load of new functionality to Apple’s range of iDevices, such as new notifications, Newsstand, iCloud and integrated Twitter functionality.

As always, though, there were a few bugs inside the new platform. Chief among these was the battery-draining bug, which affected tens of thousands of iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 users.

Apple admitted iOS 5 had a battery-draining bug inside it, as well as a massive security hole, but maintained that both of these issues, along with all the other known bugs, would be taken care of via an update (the iOS 5.0.1 update).

Well, iOS 5.0.1 landed on Thursday but it doesn’t seem to have fixed everybody’s battery issues.

Here’s a collection of complaints from Apple’s user forums:

‘After upgrading to 5.0.1 my iPhone is draining the battery even faster! Anyone else seeing this problem?’

‘I can support this too.. After installing 5.01 i charged it up fully before going to bed and after 7 hrs just sitting there lost 79%, and have lost further 5% while logging in and typing this. Going to try a full back up and restore this eve.’

‘Before the 5.0.1 update I actually didn’t have any battery problems on my iPhone 4S. But thanks to this update I now seem to have one, too The phone was charging over night and I was already wondering that it displayed 98 per cent when I unplugged it this morning, normally it would display 100 per cent. And now after 20min of use (reading some news on the bus) and 1h 26min of standby, it is already down to 92 per cent.’

‘Yeah same here.. since it finish charging this morning at 4am or so when I turn the laptop off.. I’m at 80 percent now at 9am.. the scary part is that I have Siri and location services turned off, brightness setting at only 1/4..’

Our iPhone 4S was fully charged at 8:00am this morning. Now it’s at 81 per cent – that’s a 19 per cent reduction in three hours. All we’ve done is listen to some music, send a few emails and texts and browse a few web pages.

Could we be seeing iOS 5.0.2 soon? It’s beginning to look very likely that we will, especially if these complaints keep persisting.

via Apple’s iOS 5.0.1 update makes iPhone 4S battery even worse? – News – Know Your Mobile.